1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of musical instruments and, in particular, to musical instruments having components that can be exchanged for other components.
2. Description of Related Art
Innovation in the musical instrument arts is relatively infrequent. The basic design of many musical instruments has not changed in several hundred years. For example, the modern violin has essentially the same basic design today as it did in the 16th century. The basic design of a piano as we know it today is relatively unchanged today from its beginnings in the early 18th century. The same can be said for many woodwind and brass instruments also.
One of the last true innovations in the musical instrument arts occurred in the 1940s and 1950s, when the pioneering work of Les Paul and Leo Fender transformed the guitar from an acoustic instrument to an electric instrument. In a modern electric guitar, magnetic “pickups,” formed by winding a coil around magnetic pole pieces, sense vibrations from metal strings on the guitar, portions of which are located within the magnetic field of the pole pieces. The vibration of the metal strings modulates the magnetic field of the pole pieces, which, in turn, induces a current signal in the windings of the coil. This signal is sent to an electronic amplifier, which amplifies the signal into an audible sound.
Guitar players can change the sound produced by an electric guitar by changing the guitar's pickups, which are available in a wide variety of styles and with a wide variety of tonal characteristics. However, the sounds generated by a guitar begin with a vibrating string. Although a guitar's pickup may affect how the vibrations of the guitar strings are processed, the structural characteristics of the guitar itself are what determine the nature of the string's vibration and, consequently, the tonal qualities or timbre of the guitar. Thus, legendary electric guitars such as the Gibson LES PAUL and the Fender STRATOCASTER and TELECASTER have unique tonal characteristics not only because of the particular type of pickups used on those guitars, but also because of the unique structural design and shape of the guitars themselves.
One drawback of modern musical instruments is the static nature of the structure of the instrument. Traditionally, if a musician purchased, for example, a violin having a particular timbre or tonal quality, the sound, looks and ergonomics of that violin could not be changed. The sound of the violin would be dictated primarily by the structural characteristics of the violin, which would remain static and unchanged. If the musician ultimately became bored or disenchanted with the sound of that particular violin, the musician had no alternative but to purchase another violin. The same can be said for other instruments. This is one reason why so many musicians traditionally have painstakingly taken a vast amount of time when purchasing a new instrument. A musician has had to make sure that he or she is completely happy with the sound of that instrument, be it a violin, piano, guitar, woodwind, horn or other instrument, because once a purchase has been made, the musician has been “stuck” with the sound, looks and ergonomics of that instrument.